I know I've talked about Santa Cruz before. But I may not have mentioned the fact that until now, I had never actually lived there. Yeah, I spent my last 2 years of high school, and 2 years of community college there. However I lived in the mountains, smack dab in between the beach and 'the valley'. So I did spend a lot of time there, but only in certain areas. Mostly the neighborhoods near work and school. I was still spending a lot of time in silicon valley, 'over the hill'.
So when I started dating the boyfriend, it was nice to come over to Santa Cruz, and know where I was going most of the time. But there were conversations like this:
"Let's meet downtown."
"Okay, where downtown."
"How about Logo's."
"Where's Logo's"
"YOU'VE NEVER BEEN TO LOGO'S?"
Despite not knowing where Logo's was I still knew my way around pretty well. And because of that, there are times when it doesn't really feel like I've moved. There's hasn't been an adjustment period to figure out where everything is. I know how to get to the post office, both Trader Joe's, my favorite coffee shops, book shops, and shoe stores. Sometimes it feels like I've lived here much longer than I actually have. But there are times, when it hits me. After I've run all my errands, and I'm driving home watching the sun set over the ocean, all of a sudden I'll think, "I really did move. I don't have to drive over the hill to get home. I LIVE HERE."
And I couldn't be happier.
© Whitney Brandt-Hiatt: All writing, images, and photogrpahy are the property of Whitney Brandt-Hiatt unless otherwise noted.
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